Denis Savard celebrates after the Montreal Canadiens captured their record 24th Stanley Cup title in 1993.
Photograph: B Bennett/Getty Images

“The Canadiens were more conscious of what it means to win. To them, winning was the only thing,” once said Lorne ‘Gump’ Worsley, a “beer-belly” goalie who spent 11 seasons playing for the New York Rangers at the old Madison Square Garden. According to Rangers coach Phil Watson, Gump was just another “horse-shit” player on a team that never got past the first round of the playoffs. But in 1963, Worsley was traded to Montreal for Jacques Plante, by then a six-time Vezina Trophy winner and considered by many to be the greatest goaltender in NHL history after helping steer the Canadiens to a record five straight Stanley Cups. Plante never won another Cup after departing Montreal. The 34-year-old Worsley, meanwhile, was transformed, helping to steer the Canadiens to four Cups in his six seasons with the club. Playing behind future Hall of Famers like Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, Yvan Cournoyer and led by the legendary coach Hector “Toe” Blake, it seemed as if just to breath in the air of the old Forum and peer up to the Stanley Cup banners hanging from the rafters, to look around the locker room and gaze at pictures of greats like Howie Morenz and Aurele Joliat, and to feel the presence of the Forum “ghosts” inspired players to greatness.

Today, at the Bell Centre – the Canadiens’ home since 1996 – the remnants of that greatness remain with a skyward gaze, where the banners commemorating 24 Stanley Cup trophies and the retired jerseys of Maurice ‘The Rocket’ Richard, Beliveau and Ken Dryden and others hang as a reminder of a glorious time, long past. So many were the spoils, there is no room to show off the 24 Prince of Wales trophies won as NHL regular season league champions. Ground broke on the Bell Centre two weeks after the club’s last Stanley Cup victory parade in 1993 and legend has it the ghosts stayed behind at the Forum, now a cinema complex dotted by a revolving door of bargain discount outlets. The Molson-owned Canadiens have surrounded their new home with towering condominium projects and the club’s value has soared to $1.25bn. But that number provides no solace to fans desperate for a 25th Cup, with the club’s once convincing reputation as an elite North American professional sports franchise on par with the New York Yankees, Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers all but a memory.

It’s not a very healthy situation. All the best players who want to play here leave town

Serge Savard

“I remember the winning and the sense of pride that came with it, just knowing you’re better than everyone else. Not just for your hockey team but for your city. It’s always been more than just a sport here,” says 35-year-old Michael Barratt, who was treating his five-year-old son Oliver to his first Canadiens game on this October night when the Habs beat the Calgary Flames, 3-2. The Canadiens may have started the 2018-19 season on an encouraging note, but heading into a matchup with the defending champion Washington Capitals, there is nothing to suggest the title drought will not extend into a 26th year. This in a city that had never gone more than nine years between Cups, dating back to when the Maroons were in the league. Today, the club is rebuilding after another tumultuous offseason with another captain traded away, another piece of what was once a bright, promising core gone.

“Teams go through years-long slumps. Part of it is poor management, part of it is bad luck. Sometimes it’s complacency. But usually it’s a combo of all three,” says NHL historian Stan Fischler, author of several books about the Canadiens, who have failed to return to the final since their last triumph 25 years ago. “No dynasty goes on forever.”

Led by the Rocket, the ‘Punch Line’ ended a 13-year Stanley Cup drought in 1944 to initiate a 35-year run of success with 18 titles. Back then, the formula was clear: The Canadiens had first rights to Quebec talent and tapped into a cross-Canada farm system featuring English-speaking Canadian and American players to round out the roster. That began to change with the first wave of expansion in 1967 and in today’s era of free agency it is but a fable with four Quebec-born players on a team that will only employ a French-speaking coach – regardless whether he is the best candidate or not.

“Historically it’s one of the greatest franchises in pro sport,” says former Canadiens defenseman Petr Svoboda, a Czech native who hoisted the Cup as a rookie in 1986. “In those times you had a lot of superstars and characters. Even stepping inside the dressing room you had one Hall of Famer next to another and that rubbed off on you. They really knew the heartbeat of the city and the team, the passion of the French Canadians, which is incredible. It is the best place to play hockey. It is a lot of pressure and maybe not the best place for everybody, but it makes you a better player and better human being.

“But it seems there are more worries (by management) about what is said off the ice then what is done on the ice.”

The Canadiens have not won a Stanley Cup since 1993, when they defeated the Los Angeles Kings in five games. Photograph: B Bennett/Getty Images

Since 1993, Canadiens management has had a knack for steering clear of Stanley Cup success thanks to one calamitous trade after another. In 2016 it was PK Subban, a flamboyant defenseman who grew up supporting Les Tricolores and committed to the city with a $10m donation to the Montreal Children’s Hospital. Team captain Max Pacioretty was shipped out in September after a very public falling-out with general manager Marc Bergevin, leaving a roster of untested youngsters complemented by gritty, character players at a time when fighting and physical play in the NHL is on the decline.

“It’s not a very healthy situation. All the best players who want to play here leave town. The core is all gone. They don’t want to call it a rebuild but that’s what it is,” former Canadiens player, general manager and Hall of Fame defenseman Serge Savard said of management during Pacioretty’s dealings. “It’s sad.”

Former players like Savard used to be promoted into executive roles once their careers closed to ensure current players had access to that experience and knowledge. It was not uncommon for players to look up from the Forum ice in practice to see Beliveau jogging around the arena or Doug Harvey siting in the reds watching on. That tradition has disappeared as the corporate profile grew.

“It’s something the organization wants to do better and hasn’t done that good of a job with is bringing the alumni around more often and interacting with the players and talking about their history and legacy and how their teams were. It’s something I (had to) learn to do on my own,” said Pacioretty, another in the list of team captain’s to be traded away before the close of their career. Hall of Famer Bob Gainey was the last captain to retire as a Canadiens player … in 1989.

“It meant everything to me. I took a lot of pride in it, I enjoyed my time there,” said Pacioretty, who quickly embraced the club’s French roots, including living full-time in Montreal before his trade to the Vegas Golden Knights, who made it to their first Stanley Cup final in their first season in the league.

“The fans take pride in it, the players take pride in it, some even take French lessons. Out of the 30 teams, no one else has a strong community of French and English. That’s where the history and legacy comes in. Most of the great players happen to be French so that is very cool to hear how different it was with their upbringing in the Quebec area to end up being stars for the Habs.”

Language remains a distraction and political tool, with protests incurred the last time an English-speaking coach took over the team – on an interim basis. With few appropriate French-speaking coaches available, the Canadiens must often turn to a recycled pool of candidates. Current coach Claude Julien – fired by the team in 2006 – was brought back two seasons ago after being released by the Boston Bruins.

“Black or white, Catholic or not, French or English, I have but one goal: To win games,” Blake – who was bilingual – once snorted in response to a question about language dividing the Canadiens locker room. That ambition – that nothing short of winning the Stanley Cup was acceptable – has dissipated into scraping into the playoffs and hoping an overpaid goalie coming off the worst season of his career, or the team, gets hot. Last season, the Canadiens finished with the fourth-worst record, which Bergevin attributed to an “attitude” problem, never addressing the fact he did nothing to bolster a roster that couldn’t score while overplaying his hand in losing free agents Andrei Markov and Alexander Radulov.

Yet despite having to endure a reboot seven years into what once looked like a promising tenure under Bergevin, Canadiens fans remain unabatingly hopeful thanks to the club’s pedigree despite the club’s failure to develop young talent and inability to have land any premier free agents. In Montreal, the mirage of the dynasty remains.

“We were so spoiled by winning, but we never took it for granted,” says 72-year-old Michel Carrier, who makes the 150-kilometer return trip from his home in Trois-Rivieres 41 times per season as a season ticket holder. “We’ll definitely savour the 25th – we’re hungry for it.”

Paul Logothetis is the author of a biography of Montreal Canadiens coach Hector “Toe” Blake, forthcoming from ECW Press.